Daily Deals: Baofeng UV 5RA Ham Two Way Radio – $24.99 + Free S/H

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Baofeng UV 5RA Ham Two Way Radio Deal

USA –-(Ammoland.com)-Amazon has a Baofeng handheld HAM radio for just $24.99 and free shipping.

These are a great back-up and family radios to compliment your primary survival HAM radio base. This deal is cheap enough to make sure everyone family member has one in their bugout bags. HAM radios are great during emergencies so you can pull in the police, fire, and some military broadcasts as well as FM radio. Or just a great gift for under the Christmas tree.

Note, to broadcast or for 2 way communication with this unit you will need an amateur radio license.

The Baofeng UV-5RA is a compact, economical HT covering 2 meters and 440 MHz. It has a special VHF receive band from 65 – 108 MHz which includes the regular FM broadcast band. Dual watch and dual reception is supported. You get up to 128 memories.
Other features include: selectable wide/narrow, battery save function, VOX, DCS/CTCSS encode, key lock and built-in flashlight. Selectable frequency steps include: 2.5, 5, 6.25, 10, 12.5 and 25kHz. RF power may be selected at 4 or 1 watts.

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A great deal of bad info here. I am a ham (Extra class) and own this radio.
1: It is not illegal to own this radio. It is illegal for the radio to be advertised and sold commercially until it has been made compliant. The radio Amazon is currently selling has been made compliant. BTW, you can program this radio manually (yes, I have done it), using a commercial program (sometimes included with the radio and/or programming cable) or a free program called CHIRP. I use CHIRP. It runs on Windows, Linux and (I believe) Mac. I’m using it on Ubuntu Linux.
2: Ham radio is regulated by Part 97 and not Part 90. This radio is Part 90 certified. Hams can still use this radio under Part 97 since hams are allowed to modify (and build) their own equipment.
3: It is not illegal to own any radio (in the US but can be elsewhere such as UK). Don’t confuse ownership with usage. There are few state laws about using radio receivers for specific purposes such as radar detectors and police scanners. Federal laws mainly apply to actual transmitting.
4: This radio cannot be used for FRS (Family Radio Service) which is unlicensed. This is because the antenna can be detached (and replaced with another) by the user. FRS requires the antenna to be fixed by the manufacturer to the unit. It can be used with GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) which covers all of the FRS channels plus more channels and power. FRS is unlicensed, GMRS requires a license that costs $75 for 10 years (no tests). Just submit your application and pay the fee. It is OK for someone with a GMRS license to use this radio and talk to anyone with a radio that can pick up the signal such as any of the cheap FRS radios you find everywhere. Same goes for talking on the FRS radio. Anyone can listen including the person on this radio with a GMRS license. Licensing only matters for transmitting, not receiving.
5: Hams (Amateur Radio) can use this radio to talk on Ham frequencies under Part 97 rules. Hams use repeaters all the time which extends the range of HTs (Handy-Talkie, ham slang for this type of radio) to 20 to 40 miles. Hams also have satellites that this radio can relay through. Do need an antenna (can be hand held) to point at the satellite. Do get a ham license before using any of the ham infrastructure or frequencies. Also please join the ham clubs that pay for and maintain this equipment,
6: Ham licenses are free BUT you must pass a test and there is a testing fee. This fee does not go to the FCC. It is set by the testing organization (called a VEC) and is usually $14-$15 (or lower). There are three tests, one for each level – Technician, General, Extra. (Novice and Advanced levels are depreciated). THERE NO LONGER IS A TEST FOR MORSE CODE! For one testing fee you can take one, two or all three tests ON THE SAME DAY (subject to availability and time). There are people that actually do take all three tests the same day. I took the Technician and General on the same day for $14 total. I had to pay another $14 when I went to get my Extra a few months later. If you fail a test it may be possible to retake that test the same day but you will have to pay the testing fee again. Please note that the people actually administrating the test are volunteers (called VE). They are not paid but are hams volunteering their time. The fee goes to the VEC that has paid staff responsible for managing, validating and entering the results into the FCC database. It also covers the copying, postage and other admin materials.
7: There is more to ham radio than just a bunch of people talking on radios. There are many, many facets to ham radio that easily make it a lifelong hobby with always something new to learn and play. The hot item right now is digital radio. With just a few watts of power you can communicate for hundreds to thousands of miles (on HF freqs) using digital. Phones (ham slang for voice communication) need much more power to do the same. Preppers really should take a look at small, low power (called QRP) radios using CW (Morse code) or the new digital modes. Great backup for long range communications running on batteries.

BTW when I say 2 miles it’s with the family walkie channels. Stay off the HAM and stay below the radar.
The license is nothing to get but even then we don’t use it cause of all the government snitch ears on here. They tell on each other so much it’s not even funny. The reason they are so mad on here is cause they can’t monitor us.
Most of us just want comms to hunt, emergency or safety.

And completely illegal to operate, unless you have your FCC license. Be cautious. It’s an invitation to the feds… again, unless you have your license to operate on those frequencies. Don’t provide them the invitation, simply get licensed.

I’d like to add to the discussion that if you were to get this radio you might check out the Imminent Threat Solutions 10-4 Radio Pouch. I haven’t actually used one yet but it appears to have some functions that no one else does. I buying 2 on payday.

@Bill if you get the longer antenna “I heard (wink wink) that they will go about 2 miles on the walkie channels in terrain”. Insofar as the HAM channels I’m not sure because many things depend on that question like repeaters etc and I’m not an expert. I’m just a guy who wants to talk to his hunting buddies for safety reasons. I also like the FM radio channel feature to listen to local weather forecast and news on regular radio. The national weather channels can be programmed too.

I knew the radio wave snitches would sound off lol. I don’t use them in the city where y’all reside cause y’all having nothing to say I’m interested in. I’m in a very remote area that doesn’t have any other type of signal. If me making sure my buddy didn’t fall into the canyon makes me a bad guy then so be it. I’m a bad guy
Unlike most we have the ability to maintain radio silence and aren’t chattering on about nothingness.
You wanna hike in the miles to write me a meaningless ticket then feel free. I know y’all didn’t hear anything anyway where we are.
The only other time I’m aware of them being used was to put out a mayday call after a tornado which isn’t illegal and again if you wanna go in and find them, dig them out of the debris on their shelter to write your meaningless ticket feel free.
Remember folks these are the same people pretending to cry about “too much government” (WINK WINK)

You should point out that using this radio on the ham radio bands requires an FCC amateur radio license.
A basic amateur radio license requires passing an FCC exam on radio technology, procedures and regulations.
Just buying a ham radio with the hope that it will somehow save you in an emergency is a really bad idea.
See hamradioschool.com for more info.

I understand that you want it for your safety, however it doesn’t ensure you will even make contact with someone who can help. Knowing a little bit about how those radios work will help you better operate them. Check out QRZ.com. there you can take sample tests to help prepare you for the exam. You would be surprised to find out you probably can pass one of these tests and get a license. Its that simple. And, you would. Learn to use the radio more effectively to not only save your life, but friends and family too.

If you are going to pay for the radio, may as well take the test and not have to worry about any FCC violations.

As Bob has correctly commented, Baofeng radios have SEVERAL issues that many outdoor folks are completely unaware of.

Yes, you “could” listen on FRS, or GMRS and be legal, but let’s get real. No one here on this forum is really going to just listen, which is why you hear all of the “wink, wink” comments.

Let’s outline some of the other issues that Baofeng owners may not be aware of:

1) The standard 4.625″ antenna that ships with the vast majority of the cheaper Baofeng radios is nearly worthless (performance wise). The only real advantage of it is that it’s poor performance helps to mask the bad receiver within the UV-5R series of radios.

2) Yes, you can purchase better antennas, but that will add to your overall cost. Before you do that, be sure to slide off the battery and take a look at the sticker attached to the heat sink portion of the radio. Nearly all of the sub-$40 Baofeng radios ship with a non-FCC sticker.

Before some of you jump on me to tell me that hams aren’t required to use a factory approved or certified piece of radio equipment (which is true), understand that Baofeng’s use of two different stickers on their UV-5R series of radios means something entirely different to them (according to their own factory folks at the IWCE show I attended).

The sticker that shows a trash can with a large “X” through it indicates that that particular radio failed Baofeng’s quality control test, which means it could be low in audio deviation, low in power, off-frequency, mic jack out of alignment (causing programming cable issues), etc., etc. Only the UV-5R series radios with the FCC ID label in the center of the sticker passed Baofeng’s one and only QC test.

3) Baofeng doesn’t repair their defective radios, instead they merely dump them off to local sellers around their Chinese factory, who in turn use China Post to ship those defective radios through Amazon or e-Bay.

If you are comparing a defective Baofeng against a 1/2 watt FRS radio (with an even poorer antenna), it may still outperform it on distance (wink, wink – since you wouldn’t actually use the Baofeng radio to talk), but you still would not be getting all of the performance you thought you paid for.

4) In addition, the particular Baofeng radio being advertised is known as a “one-off”, since the seller in question wanted to have something different on their radio (vs. the standard UV-5R) so they had Baofeng change the case design. The problem with that is it means many of the extended batteries won’t hit this fancier looking UV-5R without Dremmel modification.

5) If you radio arrives without the correct FCC sticker, you may find that your mic jack is off-center, which can also cause both external mic and programming cable fit issues later (which can also be overcome with careful Dremmel use).

Sometimes your Mom really is right. In radio comms, you tend to get the quality and performance that you pay for, and if something looks to good to be true, well it usually is.

These radios have been declared to be illegal in the United States by the Federal Communications Commission. The reason has to do with the radios capability to transmit outside of the amateur radio bands.
Not only is it illegal to import, advertise or sell these radios it is likely also illegal to operate these radios within the amateur radio bands even if done so in a legal manner.

@Myron, An agency of the federal government declares a radio to be illegal. If it is illegal to have, then how can the company have the illegal radio to sell the illegal radio? Merry Christmas, patriots, and a happy new radio!

Myron that was a interesting read but I can only assume that this is more related to anytones…ect. The 2 baofengs i own have a fcc id number that verifies the fcc did in fact approve the 2 I own. You can look it up yourself if youd like. FCC ID: ZP5BF-5R…. The fcc did say they are not happy with the radios recently and wanted to walk back the certification. As of this moment I am not aware of them actually revoking the cert and by that it is in fact not illegal, or banned from use by licenced operators. That being said 2 other things still supersede a ban on them anyway is A) in the event of serious emergency you have legal authority to use what ever means necessary to contact help, B) even if actually banned from being used to transmit, it still makes a ok scanner, which will be the argument to keep them, even if people chose to use them illegally. This was not to criticize you but to give more info on the situation.